The Lancashire Business View Red Rose Awards 2013

Posted in Awards, Community, General, Training and Events on Posted on 19/03/2013

Recently, we have begun to realise that what we do at Magma is something quite special. This came to light at the end of 2012 when we were nominated for Small Business of the Year at the Downtown Lancashire Business Awards and Jeremy won Social Media Guru of the Year. After these awards, we wanted to sing and shout about all the fantastic achievements we have made over the past few years and that’s why we entered the Lancashire Business View Red Rose Awards 2013.

When we started the application process for the Red Rose Awards we had no idea what to expect, or if what we were talking about was even our best achievement. We couldn’t believe it when we were short-listed for the Commitment to Skills award after our first time applying! Last Thursday, the evening of the awards dinner arrived and 10 members of the Magma team put on their posh attire and made their way over to the elegant Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

The atmosphere was incredible with nominees and attendees mingling in the reception whilst making their way through for dinner and the much anticipated awards ceremony. After last years event, Graham Liver, presenter of BBC Lancashire was asked to return to host the awards ceremony. He reminded the audience that 32 judges had seen 200 long listed companies over just two days of interviews.

The Awards

After the delicious food supplied by Heathcotes outside catering team, the ceremony began. The first award up for grabs was Environmental Impact Award which was presented by Lantei‘s Sales Director Leoni Smith. The winner of this award was Roaming Roosters who have several environmental practices including a carbon neutral biomass boiler, a digester tank and eco-friendly packaging.

Malcolm Ireland of Napthens Solicitors was next to present the Tourism and Leisure Business of the Year Award to Canal Boat Cruises. The company provided for more than 5,000 visitors last year with 80% of its business coming from outside Lancashire.

The next award had the Magma team on the edge of their seats. We were short-listed in the category of Commitment to Skills. The award was presented by Dave Nuttall of BAE Systems and unfortunately it did not go to us, but to Mad Science. Mad Science are a fantastic company that provides educational science themed events and programmes for children, they offer more than 90 different workshops, activities and shows at hundreds of venues. Caroline, the owner of Mad Science North West added: “Third time lucky! Thank you everyone”

Mark Grange, Finance Controller of Enterprise4all presented The Ink Squid with the Start-up Business of the Year Award who currently have an amazing turnover of £25,000 per month. Adrian Meakin, owner of The Ink Squid said he was “staggered, it has been a great year!”

The Carer-Friendly Employer of the Year Award was presented by Claire Fryer of Mosaic Community Care to the guys at Holiday Inn Preston. Holiday Inn have a flexible approach to working hours, supporting team members with medical appointments and hospital visits for the person for whom they provide care.

Gareth Evans from Bizspace, sponsors of the Rural Business of the Year Award presented Silverwoods Waste Management with their win. According to the judges Silverwoods Waste Management “are fully engaged with rural economy”. Julian, Director of Silverwoods added” I’m overwhelmed. You’re only as good as the staff employed!”.

The Not-For-Profit Award was presented by Damien Broughton of Danbro Ltd to The Legacy Rainbow House. The judges said they were “outstanding with acute business sense and wow factor”. All the organisations short-listed in this category equally shared the donations made on the evening.

Joanne Hindley of Peter Scott Printers presented Door4 with the Creative Business of the Year Award. Door4 added “We couldn’t do this without our team, some of whom are still working right now.”

The Environmental Technology Business of the Year Award was prestened by Wayne Wild of WEC Group to Kirk Environmental. They said: “Thank you judges for understanding what we do and thanks to all of you for putting Lancashire on the map!”

Christine Kenyon, Director of Blackburn College presented Panaz with the International Achievement Award. The Judges said Panaz were “a great traditional business with dedication to employment engagement and training”.

Managing Partner of Cassons, Les Nutter presented the Manufacturing Business of the Year Award to Apeks Marine Equipment. Judges said they had “impressive staff retention”.

Ian Hardman of Yorkshire Bank awarded Denwa Communications with Medium Business of the Year. They added: “There are amazing people in Lancashire and we employ all our staff from Lancashire – Thank you!”.

Property or Construction Business of the Year was presented to Red Rose Drylining by Norman Tenray of Obas UK. The judges noted that they were “an excellent example of a Lancashire company overcoming adversity”.

Simon Brierley of the Bee awarded Reidys Home of Music with the Retailer of the Year Award. Reidys has featured as one of the top 10 online music retailers and judges said they were “a unique business with 90 years in trading.”

The Family Business of the Year Award was presented to Roaming Roosters for their second award of the night by Laura Hartley of Laura Hartley Recruitment. They were delighted saying “Wow! Fanastic, Rock On!”.

Stephen Bolton of Lancashire Business View presented the Online Business of the Year Award to iFlorist. When asked for a few words they said “This is a great award, come on Lancashire!”.

Large Business of the Year was presented by Peter Burn of Forbes Solicitors to acdc. Acdc added: “We’re really proud, as Peter Kay said we’re at the top but we’re going higher!”.

The Final Award was presented by Richard Slater of Lancashire Business View, this was the Publishers Choice Award. Richard went on to explain how the winner of this award was one of the first uncovered gems of Lancashire and appeared in the first edition of the Lancashire Business View. The winner was acdc who also won Technology Company of the Year in 2011 and Medium Business of the year in 2012.

Thank you

It isn’t very often that so many organisations come together to celebrate the achievements of one region. Lancashire Business View and the Red Rose Awards made that happen. Each applicant to the awards had the opportunity to step back from their day to day operations and really look at all the amazing things they have achieved. We want to say a massive thank you to Richard, Aileen, Stephen, Val and the rest of the LBV team for putting on a fantastic event that allowed every business to come together to celebrate all that is Lancashire.

Also a massive thank you to Heathcotes Outside Catering Team for their lovely food, to Graham Liver for being a fantastic host, the Blackburn with Darwen Music Service Big Band for their pre-dinner music and the Revolutionaires for their post-awards music. We hope to see you all again next year, let’s make 2013 another successful year!